


Only Heaven Knows

by ImagineGladions



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M, the world god only knows au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9552047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImagineGladions/pseuds/ImagineGladions
Summary: You might be winning the hearts of these boys to capture loose souls but every single time they always kissed you and not the other way around.You think idly that if you ever fell in love you'd kiss him first. If you ever finish catching all 600,000 souls that is.





	

The tricky thing about winning over guys is capturing their attention. Fortunately, you were practically invisible. It didn’t matter if you were in the same class or in the same neighborhood. You were, as they say, a blank slate. And because you were blank it was easy to mold yourself into the kind of person that suited every guy.

It started with a love for Otome games.

You were bored and numb and somewhat felt that real life was lacking. Every girl was the same. Every guy was the same. Every single day of your life was a routine. There’s a pattern in every person’s behavior and a motivation behind every action. Wake up. Go to school. Remember. Pass your homework on time. Sleep. Meals were to be had between it all. It was all dreadfully empty and so were you. It was like a song endlessly playing on loop with the most repetitive and cheesy love song lyrics you’ve ever heard.

Discovering Otome games opened up your world and suddenly you had a place to use your thoughts, your skills, to be part of someone’s story without the messiness of dealing with real people and petty troublesome feelings.

You were better than great at this, winning over guys in games. Each personality type was predictable and just as you adjusted yourself to suit your means in the real world you also did in your games. And every boy you met became the guy for you. Each of them you won over, you loved.

And then you accepted a challenge from an anonymous user. This is the second thing that changes your life forever.

Because, after you accept it you meet Lillie Virdis.

Lillie was a nice girl. Well, a nice demon, but you get the point. She was tasked to help you capture sixty thousand loose souls living in the hearts of boys in your town by taking its place in their hearts. At first, it was hard to believe that demons existed right under your nose but it was easier to accept as time passed and Lillie remained at your side living with you in your little apartment working with you at your part-time job, and walking with you to pick up the money your parents sent you from where they were working abroad. Lillie became your friend before you knew it and you hadn’t realized you even felt loneliness until she started leaving traces of her around the apartment, her hat on the coat rack, her bag of loose soul capturing things sitting in the corner, and her fashion magazines on your coffee table.

Things start to form another kind of rhythm after your first conquest.

 

* * *

 

_**Flag 1:** Hau_

* * *

 

 

Hau was… an experience. He was almost undecipherable in the beginning. Lillie said that Loose Souls liked to stay in hosts that held lots of negativity inside of them. So, why Hau? He’s always been known to be a happy person and he’s your neighbor. You’d assumed he forgot you existed too since he hasn’t talked to you since you first came to the school. You always assumed he’d grown bored of you.

So, you were surprised to see that when you first approach him to gauge his personality type so you can win him over he cheerfully calls out your name.

“You…” You blink, temporarily caught off guard. “Know who I am?”

The tilt of your head must have been funny because he laughs. “Of course, I know you! I’d never forget you.” He smiles at you and its brighter than the sun. You almost loose your footing but immediately find him to be your usual funny and sweet guy.

You take weeks and weeks learning about him, getting him to trust you, to want to protect you. And eventually, after a nasty run in with a couple of guys who are absolutely pissed with you for taking up all of Hau’s time, Hau admits that he likes spending time with you more than anyone in the world.

Seeing your chance, you take his face in your hands and stutter out a confession and you’re almost surprised when he lunges forward to kiss you.

The Loose Soul screams as it’s sucked into Lillie’s soul capture ball which she shoves into her bag.

For some reason though, it feels like you hadn’t won. Hau hadn’t once given anything away to you. And even if you did conquer him, it felt like you’d missed something.

The next day, you have Science class with Hau and he’s back to hanging out with the very group he yelled at the day before for antagonizing you. You ignore the twinge of betrayal in your heart and remind yourself that this is a game before going back to your Otome games asking Lillie if there were any other Loose Souls around.

 

* * *

 

_**Flag 2:** Ilima_

* * *

 

 

And there was one. It was lurking inside of Ilima this time and when Lillie tells you this you groan.

Ilima is your typical pretty boy who the entire campus is in love with (both boys and girls alike). And yet, he is rich enough that the adoration doesn’t phase him. You know that the gentle and kind act wouldn’t work as well for him as it did for Hau. So, you change tactics.

You start using every ounce of knowledge you had and join every single one of his Quiz Bees, effortlessly beating him out in every single one. And instead of getting mad, Ilima is absolutely thrilled by you challenging him.

His conquest seems never ending. That is… until you find out about his bipolarism. He speaks to you in quiet tones at the back of a conference building after being defeated at another Quiz Bee that he was scared of people knowing of his more brutal side, of the side that only wants to win. He says he’s scared but when he battles you its like he’s completely himself, and that you let him be both without being at all afraid of what he might do to you.

And when he leans down, you let him kiss you.

His Loose Soul flies out of his body… and is sucked into a different ball, one that is black and red and held by a boy wearing all black looking like death itself.

“Gladion!” Lillie yells as the blonde floats down and knocks Ilima out.

 

You blink up at him, watching as he picks up Ilima and with his whispy thin raiment sits him down on a nearby bench. You knew that Lillie’s raiment let you change your appearance and create things temporarily for your conquest but you haven’t seen it used as an extension of her hand before. It’s intriguing to watch.

He must be the brother Lillie always talked about.

“Gladion is strong enough to hunt down Loose Souls by himself!” Lillie chirped as she took the Loose Soul ball from her older brother. “This is my partner!” She introduces you with a twirl.

Gladion stares at you assessing, glaring like he found you somehow lacking.

“So…” You start, nervously shuffling your hands. You curse yourself for acting this way when you are the Queen of Otome games and can win over any guy but apparently a demon is enough to make you stutter. “Every girl loves a bad boy, huh?” You ask.

You can see the exact moment that he brands you as incompetent and leaves, bored with your blandness.

 

* * *

 

_**Flag 3:** Kahili_

* * *

 

 

Anger pulses through you as you move on to your next conquest, anger that mostly is aimed at yourself for messing up your first impression with Gladion.

“Why are you so worked up about my brother, anyway?” Lillie asked, her mouth forming a wide ‘O’. “Could it be?” She flew up and twirled in the air. “The beginning of a forbidden love between demon and human?” She snickered.

You swatted at her but couldn’t reach her because of her flight. “It isn’t like that at all.” You insist, spotting your latest conquest.

Kahili was royalty, or so people said, and you didn’t want to say she was straight since she never said anything like that to you but setting that aside it looked like she was not interested in you or anyone.

“Is she asexual or something?” You think aloud.

Lillie blinks at you. “Well, I’d say you have a shot with him as long as you do your best! Game God!” Her raiment shimmered, white light listing from her scarf and turned into a large banner proclaiming **GO GO GET HIM GAME GOD**.

“I meant Kahili, not-” You stutter, brushing your hair back as you readied yourself to meet Kahili. “I don’t _like_ your brother like that. I met him _yesterday_.” You roll your eyes and catch Kahili waving to her father and thanking him for dropping her off.

“Sure, you don’t.” Lillie hums.

You realize that Lillie is still talking about Gladion after Kahili enters the sports complex and you shake her. “We have a Loose Soul to catch! Stop playing matchmaker!”

“Yes, Game God!” She salutes and you both run to the sports complex.

 

You managed to defeat Kahili through tiring means.

Meaning, you had to work at her dad’s hotel for a few weeks and cheer for her at golf tournaments until you finally caught her having it out with some male golfers who were ridiculing her because she was a woman playing the sport because of her father’s money.

“I can see the end.” You mutter as you walk out onto the green and punch the man in the face.

You and Kahili sit outside of her dad’s hotel, Kahili holding an icepack where the man’s hand was imprinted on your cheek. She asked you why you did it.

You looked at her feeling deep sorrow for her. “Because, you deserve everything good in the world. And no man should tell you that you got it with anything other than talent and the kindness of your heart.”

Her eyes shone with unshed tears as she kissed you.

You don’t notice Gladion scoffing as he fled to capture his own Loose Soul on the other side of town.

 

* * *

 

_**Flag 4:** Molayne_

* * *

 

 

Conquering a teacher was always tricky, but Molayne seemed to make it easy enough by loving his cousin so much.

Your strategy is basically to dote on Sophocles a lot. You dote on him every chance you get and not just when Molayne is around because the kid is shy but he’s brilliant too. You watch in fascination as he created things and stuttered around scientific terms only a grad student would understand. You tell him he’s a genius and he blushes an adorable bright red.

In retrospect, you should have seen it coming.

And yet, you weren’t ready for the possibility that Sophocles would like you which made Molayne a little less affectionate with you.

You decide to wing it and face Molayne anyway.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” You say flatly, trying to gauge his response. You’ve gotten to know him well over the past few weeks but he still stubbornly keeps any emotion other than muted happiness off of his face. “And I know it’s because of Sophocles having a crush on me.”

He doesn’t say much besides support and finally you are fed up with his silence. “You’re so blind! And I don’t just mean because you need glasses!” You frown up at him.

Molayne blinks down at you, genuinely clueless.

“Soph is a sweet kid and so smart. But, do you have any idea how hard it is for me to see him like this crushing on me while I’m in love with his cousin?” You force the words out and find yourself crying too. Perfect, you can use that. “With a teacher no less?” You whimper a little for effect and stumble into his chest, your knees shaking. “It’s you.” You whisper.

You feel his arms wrapping around you as his hands cup the sides of your head.

He’s smiling and tears are falling from his face as he looks at you. “An old man like me? Don’t you think these younger kids- don’t you think they’ll do much better than me? Don’t you think I need to be replaced?” He asks quietly

Your eyes widen, genuine tears falling from your eyes. “No.” You wrap your arms around his neck and lean up. “No one can replace you.”

 

“You seem to be having fun.”

You look up and sigh as Gladion floats down to stand next to you. You’re still drained from Molayne’s conquest and the sadness you felt at not being able to laugh with him and Sophocles anymore. Lillie had been nice enough to bring Molayne back to the faculty office so that he’d wake up in a familiar environment. “Does it look like it?” You scoff. “Because I feel like each person I conquer takes a part of me.” You sniffle. “And they don’t even _remember_ it.”

You cry as the rain falls over you and him, sitting on the cold rooftop gasping for air.

Gladion watches over you. And when you finally stop crying, hiccups shaking your wet frame, he sits next to you and pulls you into his embrace.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers as you fade into unconsciousness.

 

You don’t see Gladion for months after and manage to win over Kiawe in the interim. It’s a hollow victory but you let him see that he shouldn’t be afraid of change and are proud to watch as he starts competing in street dance competitions.

 

* * *

 

_**Flag 5:** Guzma_

* * *

 

 

You completely forget about Gladion by your 5th Conquest and for the first time in a while you can breathe without thinking of him. As if sensing this, Gladion decides to finally reappear to attempt to steal your next conquest.

You wonder why your heart had to go and cling to such an abrasive person. _Demon_.

“This Loose Soul is far too dangerous for someone like you!” He frowned down at you like you were out of your mind and greatly inconveniencing him, which you probably were to be honest. Greatly inconveniencing him. Because you were not out of your mind, you know exactly what you’re capable of. Gladion is just overreacting.

His words and expression made your blood boil and you spat out the first thing that came to your mind. “Oh? Someone like me? A puny human? Lets not forget it was your kind who asked for this human’s help!” You jabbed a finger at his chest repeatedly to underline your point.

“Lets not forget who already captured his six hundred thousand souls without a human. I know that _this soul is dangerous_.” He swatted away your hand irritated before his stance went from defensive to slumped in exasperation. “You shouldn’t even be anywhere _near_ this soul.”

You take a step closer to him, ignoring Lillie’s pleas to back down, and take on an aura of confidence. “I am the God of Conquest.” You choke on the last syllable, the invisible ringbinding you to your contract to capture souls tightens around your neck like a noose. “And I have a contract to fulfill.” You turn sharply and walk away. Lillie trailed behind you as Gladion stared at your back, concerned.

 

You are both almost home when Lillie speaks again. “You need to defeat this soul or we’ll-” She chokes on her own collar.

Nodding, you look at your partner and friend. “We’ll be killed. I know.” Sighing, your mind goes back to Gladion. “I just don’t get him.”  
“He worries about you.” Lillie says quietly.

You scoff. “Yeah, sure.”

“Gladion has his reasons!” Lillie yelled, running forward and blocking your path. “He _had_ a human partner.” She choked again and suddenly she was crying. “But, Sil was killed by one of their conquests.”

You tried to reach out to her but you were frozen, blinking in shock as she told you her brother’s story.

“It was a girl, she was involved in lots of bad things.” She explained. “He was on his way to give her flowers when the shootout happened and Gladion watched him fall down onto the ground and die.” Lillie’s voice shook with grief. “He had to collect the souls all alone because he still had to fulfill the contract and he was- he was so _alone_. He has been so alone for so long.” She stared at you, tears streaming down her face. “But, now he’s worrying about you, worried of what might happen to you and its not just because of me. It’s not, so stop belittling his pain! Don’t disrespect the feelings of someone you don’t understand!”

You fling your arms open and pull her into your shaky embrace, letting her heave into your shoulder. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea. I promise you that I will be careful-”

“You can’t die on us. Not you too.” She insisted.

“I won’t.” You tighten your hold on her and nod. “Trust me, I can do this.”

 

“Let me join Team Skull!” You shout, doing your best not to visibly shake in front of the squad of grunts now staring at you as though you were a chicken without a head. It had taken you a lot of detentions to finally get your conquest to talk to you and it was only by accident that you found out about his gang at all. Your conquest was the school delinquent, which was one of the more common types in games. Little did you know, delinquents in real life were much more dangerous.

Guzma, your conquest, stepped out of the pack and narrowed his eyes at you. “What did you say?” He asked, one eyebrow raised in amusement.

You shook your head, steeling yourself. “I’m not a violent person. I’m not strong or brave, I’m nothing special. And I’m definitely not at all the kind of girl you’d fall for. But maybe…” You take a deep breath and look him in the eye. “Maybe I can learn to be. No, I _will_ learn to be, if that is what it takes to stay by your side!”

Guzma is silent for a long time before he starts to laugh. “You have guts, kid.” He grins, his face going suspiciously red. He extends his hand to you, head tilted to the side. “Welcome to-”

A loud crash breaks to perfectly set moment and you are shoved into the center of the grunt circle. “This is so touching, Guzma. Really.” An unknown voice echoes through the dark streets. You can’t see past the grunts but even you know it must be a rival gang. “You’re so soft on this one.” He snickered.

“Who sent you? Was it that crazy woman??” Guzma shouted.

A gunshot rang out and a grunt to your left collapses to the ground, red spreading from a hole near his abdomen. You stare at the entrance wound, watching blood seeping out slowly from his body as Guzma’s stocky frame blocks your sight. The school delinquent stares back at you with soft eyes. “You need to go.”

“But…” You blink, your mind still on conquest mode even after the shock of witnessing someone get shot before your very eyes. “What about you?” You asked.

He blinks owlishly at you and smiles. “You’re crazy.” He whispered and suddenly his face is inches from yours. “I can’t let the person I love get shot. Not when someone finally sees me for me.”

When his lips touch yours you are numb and your eyes are open, staring widely as the Loose Soul leaves Guzma’s body and is sucked into Gladion’s soul capturer. “You never needed me. And you won’t ever need anyone to prove your worth to you again.” You whisper as Guzma loses consciousness.

Multiple bodies hit the ground as rival gangs pass out. They won’t remember any of it when they wake up. It hardly matters when Gladion is staring at you, walking towards you slowly. Each echo of each footstep feeling like condemnation.

“Ah, I’ll take him to the hospital.” Lillie picked up the grunt who got shot, her raiment stemming the the blood flow enough for him to get treatment.

You flinch as Gladion comes to a stop in front of you. “Something you want to say?” You asked.

Gladion said nothing, his raiment producing a towel that he folded and started dabbing at your face. “You’re covered in blood.” He says, smiling hesitantly like a deer learning to walk.

You take the towel from him and wipe your face to shield the look of shock written on it.

“Great job.”

You nearly gasp, looking up at the blonde to see if he was joking. “Really?” You stutter, wondering all of a sudden where all that charm and suave you had disappeared to. “I mean, of course. I am the God of Conquest after all.” You babble and ah, you should really stop now or you’ll really regret everything later. “What I mean to say is thank you, for the compliment.”

“I was wrong about you.” Gladion winked, walking backwards. “But, you still have a lot to learn.”

You laugh. “There’s that bad boy charm.”

Gladion shakes his head and grins. You can clearly see why he’s so successful in his conquests. “All the girls want a guy they can fix.” He shrugs.

You cup your hands around your mouth as he takes off. “There’s nothing _to_ fix!”

 

* * *

 

_**Flag 6:** Gladion_

* * *

 

 

You take a week of leave from school, claiming to be sick, and return to class the week after.

Gladion is more open with you, it’s a complete turnaround from when he used to worry about you from the sidelines. He’s surprisingly easy to talk to when he isn’t being mysterious and brooding. You find out he loves dogs and that he has been going to your school but in a different section under a different last name from Lillie’s. You also learn that he and Lillie don’t have a great relationship with their mother because she wants demons to have ultimate power over all the realms. Most demons aren’t in favor though. It concerns you.

You also learn that you like the way he pets every dog he sees and how his face lights up when he sees stars and the way his face scrunches up when he encounters something new that he can’t figure out like the coffee maker and the school vending machine.

You walk to school with Lillie and Gladion the next day, unable to keep your eyes off of him until you reach the gates and girls start trying to get Gladion’s attention.

“He sure is popular, how didn’t we notice before?” Lillie asked, taking a seat next to your table.

You stare out the window and rub at the throbbing muscle in your chest until your heart starts beating at a normal pace. “This isn’t good.” You mutter.

 

The moment the class is dismissed for lunch Hau shoots up from his seat and walks over to you like a man on a mission.

Unfortunately, Gladion is walking past your classroom to check if you and Lillie want to get lunch together with him when he finally makes his intentions known.

“I-I really love you. So, please-” Hau’s nose wrinkles in embarrassment as he bows to you. “Please go out with me!” He shouts, his classmates exclamations of confusion taking over the room and starting a riot.

You sit, completely paralyzed until a familiar hand grabs you by the arm. You look up to see Gladion steadying you with his firm gaze, his eyes flicking to his sister. “We’re getting lunch, let’s go Lillie.”

Lillie nods, grabbing hers and your things. “Yes, big brother.”

The room erupts in even more exclamations of ‘big brother?’ and ‘that’s Gladion!’ and oh boy you can already hear the rumors going about of Gladion – the most popular boy in his section – snatching Hau’s crush right from under his nose.

“This can’t be happening.” You mutter. “I don’t attract people when I’m _me_.”

Gladion opens his mouth like he’s about to protest but seems to decide otherwise. “There’s a chance he remembers the conquest.” He says instead through gritted teeth, continuing to drag you and Lillie until all three of you were comfortably sitting outside on a bench with your bentos out. “It’s never happened before but there is a possibility.”

“What if he really did like you even before the conquest?” Lillie asks dreamily. “It could be one of those _loved you since we were kids_ things.” She sighed.

“No, there is no way.” You shook your head, biting aggressively into a riceball. “My life is never that exciting.” You and Lillie laugh, both of you looking at Gladion when he didn’t laugh too. “You okay?” You ask, head tilted to the side.

“I’m good.” Gladion said, wincing at his own bento. “Did you have to make the hotdogs heart shaped, Lillie?” He asked.

“Only because you are such a worrywart!” Lillie reached over to pinch his cheek but he dodged, almost knocking foreheads with you in the process. “Oh! That would have been a very shojo moment. Good thing you didn’t collide!”

“Yeah, I think after that confession I’ve had enough of shojo moments for years.” You roll your eyes, discussing the merits of wiping Hau’s memory of the confession.

“Yeah. Good thing.” Gladion said, frowning.

 

Hau catches you again as you’re about to re-enter the building. “Can we talk?” He spared a glance at Gladion and Lillie. “Just us?”

“Sure.” You nod at Gladion and Lillie watching as they entered the school knowing they’d just both sneak out with their flight and listen in. You take a seat with Hau at a nearby bench. “So-”

“I’m sorry for springing it on you earlier, you must have been surprised.” Hau laughted nervously and you respect him a little. It can’t have been easy for him to ask to chat with you like this after that embarrassingly public confession. “I’ve always been a bit pushy. But, I heard from everyone that you came to school with Gladion today and I panicked. I thought he might have… confessed to you or something.” He shrugged.

“Why would you think that?” You giggle and Hau smiles. It doesn’t give quite the same feeling as Gladion’s but its warm and welcoming like stepping into the shower after a long day of work.

“He’s always paid such close attention when people talk about you- I assumed.” His face got red again and he laughed to cover it up, a habit of his that you remembered from his conquest. “I’ve liked you for a long time.”

Your eyebrows shot up in surprise. So, Lillie was right. “Really?” You asked, but your mind was full of Gladion. Gladion’s smile. Gladion worrying about you. Gladion’s panic when Hau confessed to you. _Gladion paying attention to you._

“I always thought there was something different about you. I always wanted to talk to you. But, I decided to wait for you to talk to me instead. Kind of stupid isn’t it?” He leaned back, seemingly coming to terms with himself. “But, I see you have someone else in mind already.”

You open your mouth to protest but find that you don’t know what exactly to say. “I-”

“Amazing.” He grins. “He even makes you speechless.” He looks over at a bush, standing up and walking towards it. “You can come out now.”

Gladion walks smoothly out of the bush, brushing himself off. “Hello, Hau.” He greets, looking absolutely venomous in the face of Hau’s contentment.

Hau patted Gladion’s shoulder, walking back to the school entrance. “You two sort this out.”

You were both silent, the sound of Hau’s fading footsteps haunting you both as walls rose to guard you both from each other.

“[Y/N]…” Gladion starts, stepping towards you.

You stand up, the wind pushing and pulling at your hair as you stared him down. “Do you like me?” You asked, voice shaking at the revelation.

Gladion stared stonily at you and sighed. “Yes.”

“Oh God.” Your shaky fingers probed at your forehead and brushed your hair back in frustration.

“I get it, it’s not a great time for this and you don’t need the drama but for what it’s worth I’m sorry.” Gladion said in rapid fire English, looking for once not like the strong and strict Gladion you knew and instead the vulnerable and open Gladion he’d let you have a glimpse of every now and then. “I’m sorry that I can’t be that guy.” He points to the entrance where Hau had been standing prior to the conversation. “I’m sorry that I was a jerk to you when the only thing you did was confuse and surprise me. And I’m sorry for being an idiot and only being nice after you proved your skill to me.”

“I’ll tell you one thing I’m not sorry for.” Gladion stepped forward and took one of your shaking hands in both of his. “I’ll never be sorry for loving you. Not even if the devil himself rises from his lake of fire to smite me.”

You laugh. “Is that a possibility?” You ask, teasing.

“It could be.” Gladion shrugs. “You never know with that guy.”

You throw your head back and let out another shaky laugh. “You know? You’ve always made me feel such weird things.” You whine, rolling your eyes.

“Weird things?” Gladion raised a brow at you and frowned.

“Well.” You clear your throat. “I’ve been playing and winning Otome games for a long time. I mean, I’m the God of Conquest.” You shrug, ignoring the audible yawn Gladion let out. “But, in front of you?” You look at him as if personally offended. “I feel like a little kid with sticky fingers jabbing at the buttons hoping I’m hitting the right ones.”

“Ah, so you’re not immune to my charms after all.” Gladion grinned.

“Ugh, fine.” You give in to his teasing, gracing him with a warm smile of your own. “It’s just like me I guess, to fall in love with literal demon spawn.”

Gladion stares at you for a second. “How do I know this isn’t one of your lines then?” He asked. “That I’m not one of your conquests.”

You think about all those boys you’ve won over and smile to yourself.

“This is how.”

You seized him by the collar and, for the first time ever, _you_ kissed a boy.


End file.
